As news broke yesterday about the latest bed Nintendo has decided to shit in, targeting a longtime fan with DMCA strikes for sharing videos featuring their games, I was reminded of a few things.

This kind of hostile behavior is, unfortunately, what we’ve come to expect from Nintendo. Never mind the cute alarm clock or music app—they’re one of the most needlessly customer-hostile companies out there. Remember the Nintendo Creators Program? Or the restrictive guidelines they’ve enforced on Super Smash Bros tournaments over the years? So then why do we keep celebrating them every time they release something cute or nostalgic?

What’s particularly frustrating, as we've seen countless times in their battles against emulation sites, is that Nintendo themselves aren't interested in offering any legal way to play many of the games featured on Crandall’s channel, going so far as shutting down the virtual console back in 2019 and cutting off access to over 400 classic titles games.

As much as I’ve loved their games and hardware over the years (my first console was a SNES!), it’s hard to keep cheering for a company that refuses to work with its customers in any meaningful way, or worse, punishes them for their loyalty. Going forward, I’ll be thinking twice about my Nintendo purchases.

Nostalgia isn’t a free pass to treat your fans like shit.

Usman Qureshi for iPhone in Canada:

Disappointing early reviews and sales of Nintendo’s latest ‘Super Mario Run’ smartphone game have caused the company’s shares to fall by almost 16% in the past five days, while some analysts are also expressing concern over the game’s payment model, The Wall Street Journal is reporting. Although the company’s stock rose over 20% in the past month, the shares finished down 7.1% today in Tokyo Stock Exchange trading.

After playing the game, it’s easy to see why some people are frustrated. There are plenty of things that make Super Mario Run hard to recommend including the always-on internet connection, the weird fragmenting of data that requires users to download more of the game after completing the tutorial level, having to buy the game for each device you want to run it on instead of being able to share it via your family account, etc.

This probably wasn’t the debut many hoped Mario would have on the App Store.

Nick Summers for Engadget:

We’ve heard plenty of rumors since then, including a console-handheld hybrid, a system more powerful than the PS4 and Xbox One, and a console with a bizarre touchscreen controller (including faked photos) based on Nintendo patents. The house of Mario has stayed quiet throughout, stating only that it will talk about the console later in 2016.

Just posting a tweet with a release date is a pretty weird way to announce a console. Nintendo has confirmed that their E3 presence will include the new Zelda title and really not much else, not even the NX.